A Friend of the Court Appearance Supporting Prosecution of The BART Police Who Killed Oscar Grant?
Feb. 18, Oakland, CA:
The Alameda County District Attorney will present his case charging BART police officer Johannes Mehserle with murder for killing Oscar Grant, a young African American working father, on a BART platform early Jan. 1. Many witnesses, and video captured by cell phones, show Mehserle forced Grant to his knees, then shot the shackled man in the back.
Charges were brought after many Oakland community leaders and angry youth held meetings and marches demanding action: this was the latest of many attacks that have gone unprosecuted.
Rev. Daniel Buford, MCLI vice president, reports concern that BART/Oakland police may fill the courtroom during trial, to affect the DA and the jurors.
MCLI asks: Could the National Lawyers Guild and other NGOs make an appearance as friends of the court (amicus curiae) in support of the prosecution, as they have often appeared amicus supporting African Americans and other "unpopular" defendants?
The amicus appearance would bring to the attention of the court and jury, laws the DA would not include in his presentation, i.e., the police killing violated treaties the U.S. has ratified. This treaty law is the supreme law of the U.S. and the states under the U.S. Constitution, and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby (Art. 6, sec. 2).
The U.N. Charter provides that every nation agree to "promote: …universal respect for, and observance of, human rights... for all without distinction as to race," The Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination is even more specific (ratified by U.S. in 1994).